Written with Love

The Shop of Love

A small silver bell greeted the daily customers of "Love Cup."

The old shop was cozy and welcoming. A perfect place to study, meet up with friends or have a date.

It held a mini take one leave one library that only occupied books containing the enemies to lovers trope. Multiple conservative parents had already complained to the old lady that owned the store, Mrs. Rita. She had replied that if they don't like it, they could leave.

They never did, though.

It was a small town in Jacksonville, Alabama, and everyone knew everybody.

They were either your neighbor, family friend, went to your church, or were your family.

There was only one high school in the whole town, so naturally, all of the teens would come to study at the wooden tables of the cozy building. They loved how Mrs. Rita would memorize their names, randomly give away free coffee, and listen to any of their recent high school drama.

The thing about Mrs. Rita was that she didn't have any kids or grandkids, so everyone in town was her unofficial child. She loved them all.

When the shop had just opened, the woman had hung up a sign that was now extremely popular in the area. It said, "Once you take a sip, you can never turn back."

That sign was always true for the people of Jacksonville, and it would be true for city girl Scarlett as well. Except in her story, she didn't just sip coffee.

She sipped love.

***

Rain.

That was the only thing in sight.

Rain and lightning.

Ok, that's worse.

Rain, lightning, and random roof shingles.

An annoyed sigh escaped Scarlett's lips.

The frustrated woman started to look for a possible stopping point.

She inwardly scoffed. What was she thinking? Ever since she turned down that old road, there had been nothing but rain, lightning, and grass.

Since she was thinking about the seemingly empty old town, she almost missed a small building on the side of the road.

Quickly she moved her foot on the brake, screeching to a stop.

All of the lights were on, and lots of noise was coming from inside.

The more people, the less chance of getting kidnapped, Scarlett thought.

Grabbing her bedazzled umbrella, courtesy of her young cousin, Scarlett, as fast as she could, she ran into the full shop.

A dinging of a bell sounded from above her as she opened the glass doors.

Only a few turned to look a the new arrival, but once they saw her, whispers began to go around.

The woman looked down at her skinny black jeans, then her puffed sleeve white crop top.

At first, she believed the whispers are about her skin color; there were no other black people in the room. But before she could turn back out of the door, a strong male hand reached for her.

Frantically she tried to yank her arm from his grip.

Suddenly an amused chuckle sounded from above her.

"Chill out. I'm not going to hurt you."

She tilted her head towards the man's face. He had calming brown eyes, tousled dark brown hair, and a million-dollar jaw.